The Great Barrier Reef

Until, we took a chance and booked us a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. After all, this was one of the things we wanted to do on this holiday. Once we got to the Shute Harbour, the FantaSea staff said that it's going to be a rough ride. the waves will be 2.5 to 3.0 meters high and most probably snorkeling will be impossible or inconvenient, at least. Not only because of the waves but also because of the tide. 25 knots is quite a wind.
We wanted to get out of Airlie Beach so we thought, what the hell, let's give it a try. We had no idea how the waves would feel like, lunchwise, so we had Travacalm, just in case. Some passengers didn't... Once we got to the Hardy reef, sun began to shine and there were some waves but not so big that they would prevent snorkeling. Kia stayed in the water as long as I did so she was very brave. And the corals were excellent, well worth the 470 AUD that the trip cost. We were snorkeling off a pontoon where we could rest while we were not in the water.http://www.fantasea.com.au/Reefworld/I just developed the underwater pocket camera pics so here are some not-so-sharp pictures of the Hardy reef. I was much more beautiful than these pictures show.

Wondering at the Whitsundays

The only accommodation we could book on Airlie Beach was the Whitsunday Wanderers resort. Tripadvisor says it's the 22nd of 24 hotels in Airlie Beach. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g261596-d287864-Reviews-Whitsunday_Wanderers_Resort_Airlie_Beach-Airlie_Beach_Queensland.html
This is what I call "pöpelikkö" in Finnish. There were no general lighting in the resort so evenings were very dark and there were fallen palm leaves everywhere. We paid 3 nights beforehand, and that was a big mistake. At some point we were also considering to leave one night early, without the possibility of compensation. The first night Kia couldn't get sleep because some animal entered our room through the 2 cm crack under the door. She said that it jumped around. A kangoroo, perhaps. It was actually a grasshopper and it made an awful noice until I made it "leave to America".
It rained for two days and we almost had it...

No Fishing, except on Christmas

Who would have the heart to drive these ladies away on Christmas Day?

Close encounter with koala

Kia's dream came true. Taronga Zoo offered a possibility of a photo shoot with koalas.

Christmas in Sydney

The clothing wasn't a problem after all. Sydney, also, was chilly. We didn't really have any Christmas spirit and the only thing about Christmas was a box of Panda chocolates. Apparently you can bring candies and chocolates into Australia even though other food items are prohibited. Novotel at Darling Harbour was quite OK and we had a two room suite.

10 hours in Tokyo

Chilly Tokyo presented us with a problem: What to wear because the destination was Australia, in summer. We took the Narita Express to Shinjuku, walked around and went back to the airport. I had changed 100 euros for yens and half of it was spent to one-way tickets to Shinjuku... So the other half was needed for return.